I saw an rather large SUV (can't say for sure the engine size) with a pizza delivery sign on top last weekend. And this was a good five or six miles from the pizza shop, had to burn up several bucks in gas to make that delivery, hope he (she?) had more than one delivery in that area.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Obama's "crackdown on oil speculators" is just more disingenuous political blather. Oil and money are fungible and any attempt by our feckless politicians to intervene in what is a world market can only be detrimental to the US. Traders will simply go elsewhere thus depriving US exchanges of income. The excessive reaction and regulation after the Enron affair destroyed a fine US company (Anderson) and drove many IPOs overseas. The ethanol debacle is still racking up victims (US taxpayers and/or motorists) with no end in sight. The 1 series BMW diesel gets 60 mpg? I think Gagrice has detailed why we can't get more auto choices here. I have a V6 4runner (I liked my old Explorer but it only got 15-18 mpg and was pushing 100k) and get 19-22 with conservative driving. Its my only vehicle and I need to carry tools and equip and and occasionally tow a small trailer. A small turbo diesel in this truck would be ideal and I would buy one. If Ford offered one or two diesel engines across its product line for example, people would line up behind the blue oval. Same goes for GM and Chrysler. The US has the talent and ability to take back the auto business if the US Government would get out of the way. I'm going to go get a Corona an cool off. DQ
"What did they know in 1989 that they don't know now? How could they get a huge car like a Cadillac Brougham to get that kind of mileage back 20 years ago and they can't do it now?"
They can do it now.
1989 Cadillac Brougham 15/22 mpg, weight 4190 lbs 2008 Lexus LS 460 16/24 mpg, weight 4245 lbs 2008 Lincoln Town car 15/23 mpg, weight 4345 lbs 2008 RX Hybrid 26/24 mpg, weight 4365 lbs
I have a friend in the florist business. It is really impacting them also. It is hard to use anything but a mini-van type vehicle with large flower arrangements. Stop and go it is lucky to get 16 MPG out of the best ones. A regular van is worse.
My sister is a rural route carrier for the US Postal Service and it is hurting her too. As a rural route carrier she is basically a contractor who provides her own vehicle and pays for her own gas. They do give her a mileage allowance but its not keeping pace with the rising gas prices. She fills up every other day.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
in my area (Hainan Island, which applies a 1RMB /L road tax) SUL 97 is 8RMB /L , which is USD4.38/Gal Diesel is 6.13 RMB /L = USD3.35/Gal
Standard China prices are now 7 RMB/L = USD 3.83 /Gal for SUL 97 Diesel is 5.13 RMB /L = USD2.81/Gal
The increase is not so drastic as it just matches today's oil prices. Any further oil price increase will put the local petroleum companies back in the red.
Good news is that all the queues for Diesel fill up have cleared. I still believe the diesel prices are too low. Govt really kept the increase as low as possible, so it is likely queues will show up again in a few months.
Any less traffic or pattern change to adapt to more expensive oil ? No. Gas is still to cheap. last year, priuses were sold by the thousands in China. There are other priorities in motorists' minds here.
I am still amazed to see pizzas being delivered by car. In France and many European countries, pizzas are only delivered by 50cc or at most 125cc scooters. In China, they often use Electric bikes for that. I can't justify the rationale of moving 3-4-5000 pounds for a few pounds of hot food.
I remember receiving 2 pizzas from Little Ceasar in L.A. in 96. They were delivered by some kind of big V8 powered van in which a whole furniture set for the family room would definitely fit. I am sure one gallon was burnt in the process...
I remember receiving 2 pizzas from Little Ceasar in L.A. in 96.
Your post made me laugh. Pizza gets delivered in every kind of vehicle known to man. In 1996 gas was really cheap. My son was delivering pizza at night and flowers during the day in his 1994 Toyota PU truck I bought him. I used to tell him how it was costing him money to deliver anything. Of course it was dad that always picked up the tab for repairs on that POC Toyota. PU truck. He racked up 100k miles in 3 years doing delivery.
Great article simpilot 1, Agreed gagrice, Bodman has his own agenda but what it is, is puzzling. They are a lame duck administration but wth? I see an implosion looming and the street and numerous hedge funds leveraged out the wazoo running in red, but as to what benefit the administration could derive..... A nice position with a hedge fund ( who was short) for Sammy after the deluge? Oh btw, g, Sarah Palin would make a fine VP candidate
Shell and GM stated in the CNN report that hydrogen will be sold at their fueling stations at $2/gallon equivalent to gasoline using the Chevy Equinox hydrogen cell car that will be sold according to GM reps at $26K each base price. The max. range on the Equinox on one tank of hydrogen will be 160 miles for now. I do not doubt with technological improvements this distance will be increased over time. Chrysler claims they will build and manufacture the Ecovoyager hydrogen cell/electric car that has a max range of 250 miles on one charge with an extra 50 miles extension derived from the smaller hydrogen tank it has on board.
Where does the hydrogen come from
Shell is producing hydrogen from electrolysis cells in California using tap water as the reagent to produce the hydrogen. The electricity used to power these hydrogen producing plants are mainly coal fired electric plants. If it were my choice, we could power these hydrogen plants using nuclear CANDU reactors the safest nuclear reactors in the world, or by large solar panel/wind generation plants like that being built in Germany now. Any fossil fuel argument you have is futile because the world will run out of oil within the next 50-100 years, so we have to find another series of energy sources to solve our energy problems. The added benefit here is hopefully the production of hydrogen will eventually be cleaner by using solar/wind generation, nuclear at some point. GM and Shell said they would be selling hydrogen cell cars and have fueling stations up and running by 2011, 3 years from now. See www.hydrogenassociation.org website video posted 5/28/2008 CNN's Glenn Beck on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Source: CNN
and this statement below by GM exec GM executive pushes for hydrogen infrastructure David Booth, Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008 At the recent National Hydrogen Association Conference in Sacramento, California, the General Motors vice-president for Research and Development challenged government and the oil industry to build 40 hydrogen refuelling stations in southern California to promote the further development of the "hydrogen infrastructure of automobiles."
"While automakers continue to commit resources to the development of full-performance, affordable and durable fuel cell-electric vehicles, there appears to be comparatively little parallel investment and resource allocation for development and deployment of commercially ready retail hydrogen infrastructure," said Burns.
He noted there was only one public hydrogen refuelling station in California, "yet our Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles are already in the hands of customers who are looking for a retail-like refuelling experience."
While Burns calls this initial development a "tipping point" that could ultimately service as many as 10,000 hydrogen-fuelled fuel-cell powered vehicles, it is only the beginning of an America-wide infrastructure that will be required before the alternative fuel is widely adopted.
As daunting as that may seem, Burns remains convinced that a "hydrogen highway" is attainable within the near future.
According to Burns, "a network of just 12,000 hydrogen stations would put hydrogen within two miles (3.2 kilometres) of 70 per cent of the U.S. population," a far more attainable goal than replacing all of the estimated 170,000 gasoline stations currently operating in the United States.
Even "if these stations cost $2 million each," says Burns, "the total cost of $24 billion is not overwhelming," considering the cumulative profits of the oil industry were $123 billion U.S. in 2007 alone.
Burns also said the production of hydrogen should not be a problem for the future, since global production is slated to rise to 81 billion kilograms by 2011, half of which is used by oil refineries to remove sulphur from "dirty" crude. Not without irony, Burns notes that the hydrogen being used to refine oil into gasoline would be enough to fuel 135 million fuel-cell powered vehicles, which would significantly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels.
Isn't it ironic that the hydrogen is produced and used in the refining process for oil refineries already? I think the fueling issue will not be a problem. It will be the durability and robustness of the hydrogen stack and batteries going into these cars as the main obstacle, ie. expensive to maintain after 50,000 miles of use. Regardless of the costs we will have to try to make the hydrogen highway work. I will buy a hydrogen cell car once they become available. I am not waiting for the $7 to $10/gallon of gas crunch. I will invest into the new technology and take my chances.
" The excessive reaction and regulation after the Enron affair destroyed a fine US company (Anderson) and drove many IPOs overseas. "
Just a side note since I love the ironic. Many former Arthur Anderson employee's are now Sarbanes-Oxley consultants. Comedy can't write stuff this good.
A anecdote on George Soros. I had a friend many moons ago who worked for the Q fund in operations in NYC at the time when George was shorting the British Pound. One day she received a call from the Bank of England. This was extraordinary because one does not receive a call from the Bank of England. They are not a Bank per se but the British equivalent of our Fed.It would be like Ben Bernanke calling you and saying " I know what you're doing, now stop it! "
It would not surprise me to find out Soros is one of the kingpins behind the oil price run-up. Very difficult to assess as he has moved all off shore. I think he nearly bankrupted some countries with his shenanigans.
Another anecdote that bothers me a lot. Two of the investors in the Q fund are GHW Bush and Howard Baker. There is a lot we do not get to see in this World.
I am still amazed to see pizzas being delivered by car. In France and many European countries, pizzas are only delivered by 50cc or at most 125cc scooters. In China, they often use Electric bikes for that. I can't justify the rationale of moving 3-4-5000 pounds for a few pounds of hot food.
Well, when I delivered pizzas, I worked in the suburbs, and our delivery area was up to around 5 miles from the store. And that wasn't all residential streets either. Many of the roads I travelled had speed limits up to 55 mph, and occasionally I'd even hop on a limited access road with a 65 mph speed limit. A scooter would just be too dangerous. I'd also often walk out the door with 4-5 deliveries at a time. On a busy Friday or Saturday night, I could easily put 200 miles or more on a car.
Plus, on a scooter, you're probably going to have a higher complaint rate, because the pizzas are going to get sloshed around more inside the box.
Soros has come out publicly lately saying he feels oil is way over priced so while I have no inside knowledge it would not surprise me if he were short oil. Palin brings more than Bobby Jindal. though young, 36, he has less than 1 year as governor. Palin, 44 is a fiscal conservative (Lord, do we need a real one) anti -corruption, has a 90% approval rate in her state and carries no baggage. She'd make a good president but I'd settle for vp.
I got an e-zip electric bike from Walmart.com for about $350 and used it to ride to work today. Will save about 1.5 gallons per day = $7 or so. That means payback in 50 bike-commuting days. It is really electric assist - with my weight, you have to help it by pedaling.
The water is the source of the hydrogen and oxygen. A reagent is a chemical which causes a reaction to occur. Here the electrical energy is causing the reaction.
Congrats on the E-Zip. I have basically the same model, but the more expensive I-Zip version. I have used it for commuting since late Nov 2007. I love it. I have lost 15 pounds and my bloodwork numbers are all improved.
Of course you can. Go to your commodity broker and tell them you want to buy a 50 million barrels of oil for August delivery. You will pay up to $145 per barrel. If you have the money that is how it is done. Very simple. You already forgot the trader that bought a 100 barrels for $100 to be the first over that price threshold. He then sold and lost money. Not everyone playing the game loses money.
Some people have nice powerful cars 300HP+ and love to drive fast. Speed limits are way too low on most of highways. 55mph is a joke for something like Nissan GT-R or BMW 335i.
Some people have nice powerful cars 300HP+ and love to drive fast.
You make a very valid point. If someone has a $50k car and likes to spend a few bucks on gas to go out for a nice high speed cruise, what is the harm, if he does not endanger others? How is that any more a waste of money, energy and resources than the guy that pays $250 for a round of golf at the Desert Inn or Pebble Beach?
They run up my insurance costs when they wreck that M3, and make driving less pleasant for everyone else when they tailgate and try to blow past people on the public highways. There are a lot of fools who wrongly think that the computers will transform them into the reincarnation of Ayrton Senna.
They run up my insurance costs when they wreck that M3, and make driving less pleasant for everyone else when they tailgate and try to blow past people on the public highways.
So I should resent the folks who live in fire prone/flood prone/mudslide prone areas for what it does (in theory) to others' insurance rates? Or chubby people? Or older folk?
As to the second part, yes, I definitely agree that having someone tailgate you is unpleasant and dangerous - and should not be done, with or without "slower traffic keep right"
Using dirty coal-fired electricity to make hydrogen is crazy. And since hydrogen is really just a way to store energy, maybe we should run our cars directly on coal? Nuclear plants cost too much and are a money losing business. No one has come up with a nuclear plant that can make money without subsidies.
Only when hydrogen is created using electricity from hydro, wind, and solar will it be worthy. But then, there aren't enough of those types of electric generation to meet our current electric needs, so why divert it to hydrogen creation. And why create an entirely new distribution system for hydrogen when we already have on for electric?
Here is where I'm going. Electric transportation is what needs to be refined, improved, and implemented. The grid is in place. Most charging will occur at night, where demand is currently low so it will help equalize day and night time loads. We won't have to build an entirely new delivery infrastructure like with hydrogen. Electric can be generated directly from the solar, wind, and hydro (think tide turbines and not dammed rivers). You can even invest in these technologies and create your electricity onsite at your home. That requires less electric grid buildout. Imagine almost all homes having solar panels. Or community electricity, like some towns are doing, by having one 2.5megawatt wind mill generate the majority of the towns electricity. Better yet, new houses built, or old houses retrofitted, to conserve energy. Then one doesn't have to create the electricity in the first place.
Back to hydrogen. The main use for hydrogen that I see is not for cars. It's for the storage of energy when there are overages in electricity production from the above sources. One of the problems with wind power is it's not consistent and/or much of the electricity generation occurs at night when demand is low. That is one issue the wind farms have been dealing with. Many electric companies need more consistent energy production in order to patch in the wind farms to the grid. The latest ways to equalize are by creating hydrogen during the overages, storing it on site, and using it to in Fuel Cells, to create electricity during the low wind period. Another is using the overage to pressurize huge underground air cavities and using the pressure to create electricity during the lulls.
I just bought and electric bike here. $320. 25 miles between charges at full speed. top speed is 20 mph. This is enough for city commutes up to 5 miles. It can be used in electric assist mode or in full electric mode. Many people here in China use those. They are considered as bike (no insurance, no licence plate, no helmet, no safety, nothing...)
You laid it out pretty well. The Fuel Cell vehicles look to be a hybrid that replaces the ICE with a fuel stack. The cars still have a big battery to run the electric drive motor. I think the plain EV is a better solution as you have stated. Getting 200 miles is doable with current technology. Then all you do is plug in over night. You do not have to find one of the 13 hydrogen stations in America to charge up your car. Instead of 3 systems to go bad you only have the battery.
I think the Government push behind hydrogen is control of the resource. How do you tax an EV that is charged at home?
"They run up my insurance costs when they wreck that M3..."
Not really because insurance is based on class of vehicle. They are paying WAY more insurance to drive that vehicle (or at least for vehicles that, statistically are in more accidents or cost more to fix) than if that same person drove an old pickup truck. In that sense, people are more or less paying their own way.
Besides, who says a they are wrecking? Isn't it unfair for the person paying a premium to drive that type of car and never drives aggressive or never wrecks when a part of their premium goes towards fixing the cadillac of a senior citizen that pays next to nothing for insurance but isn't a safe driver and either gets in accidents or causes them by their driving (and never even realizes it and drives off blissfully unaware of the accident they just caused).
So to make the point, simply because someones drives a sports car doesn't make your insurance go up. And even when they have an accident, it probably impacts you very little unless you drive the same type of car, are the same age, sex, marital status, credit rating, and all the other factors that statistically impact your specific insurance rate.
"I think the Government push behind hydrogen is control of the resource. How do you tax an EV that is charged at home? "
Yep, hence the big government push for fuels that you still need to buy per unit at a service station (biofuel, hydrogen, etc.) I guess there could be a different kilowatt price for electric used for electric cars, which would require a separate meter for your car, but that would be hard to inforce and track. I imagine it could also be done by a highway tax on license plate renewals, but then you are taxing those that drive 5,000 miles a year the same as those that drive 100,000 a year which isn't exactly even. Of course, with the current tax method (per gallon of gas), it isn't evenly spread, either, since those driving a 10mpg vehicle are paying 5 times more per mile driven than someone getting 50mpg.
There will likely always be gasoline vehicles since we are a very long ways away from electric vehicles that can tow a horse trailer, for example, but even with current technology, they would suffice for much of the population and as they become mass produced, price will come down and technology will continue to improve range. Then it may come to the point where folks are quite happy buzzing around in their electric, 300 miles at a time, and if they need to tow something heavy or drive a long distance on a trip, they can rent an appropriate vehicle. Or maybe just do so now and then just to relive the memories of "back in the day when the common vehicle was powered by an internal combustion engine". Ha.
"The idea is to obey the laws and exceeding the speed limit is illegal (and often unsafe). "
No where did I say anything about speeding. We were discussing people paying insurance.
I know plenty of people that have "sports cars" that don't really speed or drive reckless. The nice thing about lots of the sports cars or luxury sports is the driving experience is so much nicer even in day to day driving. Contrast that with there being way more people speeding, driving reckless, etc. in non-sports cars and this whole thing becomes moot.
"Meanwhile, 2.9 billion gallons of gas are wasted in the US every year thanks to traffic jams. Good place for that 300hp car eh? "
Of course it doesn't matter if you are driving a 300hp car or a 120hp car, in stopped traffic, they both get 0mpg. A hybrid or electric is the only vehicle that does well in that environment. Also note, just because many sports cars are quick, doesn't mean they are gas guzzlers compared to the average family sedan. Heck, the 2008 6.2L V8 Corvette is even rated at 26mpg with 430hp.
Besides, many of the sports cars don't really have a lot of hp. They are built small and light giving them a good power to weight ratio. Lot's of them get better mileage than the average family car. In those situations, the sports car drivers are better for the environment than that sedan and minivan drivers. And especially better than the SUV and pickup drivers. Maybe the new campaign to the SUV drivers should be "Save the world. Trade-in for a sports car".
My comment was in response to the "Speed limits are way too low on most of highways. 55mph is a joke for something like Nissan GT-R or BMW 335i" statement earlier in the thread.
And if you're slumbering through one of those awful commutes, you don't need even need 120 hp.
Illegal schmillegal, the US is a nation built in revolt against idiotic laws. I don't know if 80 in a 70 or similar is necessarily unsafe. Speed limits and safety...if safety mattered, 40 would be the limit, and it would be consistently and responsibly enforced.
Maybe if the powers that be would stop fighting wars for others and invest in infrastructure, those traffic jams could be alleviated.
"according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), when speed increases from 40 mph to 60 mph, the energy released in a crash more than doubles. Simply slowing down and obeying posted speed limits can go a long way toward making the roads safer." link
Some people have nice powerful cars 300HP+ and love to drive fast. Speed limits are way too low on most of highways. 55mph is a joke for something like Nissan GT-R or BMW 335i.
Shoot, even my POS Saturn wagon can go faster than 55. :P But you are correct, driving a sports car can be enjoyed without driving it fast. It can be a lot of fun to drive one fast though. Like steve said, pay the track fee and have at it.
We were discussing people paying insurance.
Yes, and last I checked, my insurance was likely to go up if I get convicted of speeding.
I admit to not knowing much about this claim. I just haven't looked into it a great deal. From what I have read and heard, it almost seems even more unclear/controversial than the safety benefit of lower speeds. What I see is that a common response is "Yes, but it just doesn't save that much." Always leaves me wondering "So, what is enough?"
Illegal schmillegal, the US is a nation built in revolt against idiotic laws.
lol Let us know how well that argument goes over with the patrolman, the traffic court judge, your insurance agent, your neighbors, the DMV, and your legislators.
"My comment was in response to the "Speed limits are way too low on most of highways. 55mph is a joke for something like Nissan GT-R or BMW 335i" statement earlier in the thread. "
Ah, OK. I gotcha. It threw me when you replied to my email rather than the other person's one to which you were responding.
I agree on the rush hour commutes. When I lived in Chicago, I chose to live within walking distance of work. My coworkers that didn't took the subway if they were in the city or the train if they lived out of town. It still was an hour commute, but way cheaper and they could read, nap, eat, or work on the way in...not that some people don't try to do those things as they drive. :P
Of course, as today the same nation founded in revolt is ruled by a desire to defer and conform, inhabited by a populace easily contented by cheap Chinese goods designed to mask their declining real incomes and eventual sharp decline in standard of living. I see you would never dare address the idiocy of the laws, rather just turn it back on me
Judges, revenue enforcers, DMV, legislators...hardly the most accountable segments of society.
Just a quick observation. Article from 2005 and it begins with the phrase "With gas prices so high . . ." What was the price of gas back then?
It does seem intuitive that lower speed burns less fuel. You know folks don't warm up to percentages so readily. They like cold hard raw numbers, especially when talking money.
Since we're hovering around speed limits, it does seem to me that setting lower speed limits in the name of saving fuel will not go over very well. Actually reducing to the posted speed limit does make sense to me. Saving fuel is a bonus.
No doubt that is the easiest way for a person to save gas. In my truck, I rarely drive faster than 65 even though the interstate speed limit is 75 and the county roads are mostly 70mph. The only time I speed up is if I'm blocking traffic, then I speed up to the speed limit. Luckily, that traffic is rarely heavy in the part of Montana where I currently live. Much better than the Chicago traffic, St. Louis traffic, or other places I've lived. Unfortunately, everything is further away here, too. Definitely prime type of driving for a subcompact diesel rather than a hybrid. Mostly all open road driving. But that's another subject.
My truck's mileage sweet spot is 65mph or slower. I get 20mpg. At 70 - 75mph, it drops about 3 mpg which is a 15% drop. If I drive 80mph, which is still well within police tolerances on 75mph speed-limit roads in the middle of nowhere, my mpg drops to a miserable 15mpg or a 25% drop. Slowing down is, by far, the easiest way to improve your current vehicles gas mileage.
That being said, in a higher traffic area, driving slower than the other vehicles is actually more dangerous than exceeding the speed limit and flowing with traffic. It's the variation in traffic speeds that increases danger, not the overall traffic speed. Even the hwy patrol say this. My grandparents took a driving class many years ago, when the hwy speeds were raised again, and all the hwy patrol that were teaching the class taught the same thing. Flow with traffic if at all possible and within your comfort level, because its the variations in speed that raise the danger level.
Actually, if a law is idiotic, I'll readily say so. I just don't think speed limits are idiotic. I have a suspicion that using the idiocy defense is not very likely to succeed.
There is a lot of rationale that goes into setting speed limits. We may not agree with the rationale or the outcome, but that is far from what I would consider idiotic.
Judges, revenue enforcers, DMV, legislators...hardly the most accountable segments of society.
That may be the case. I'm believe, however, that those are segments that should be held to the highest level of accountability.
Comments
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Oil and money are fungible and any attempt by our feckless politicians to intervene in what is a world market can only be detrimental to the US. Traders will simply go elsewhere thus depriving US exchanges of income. The excessive reaction and regulation after the Enron affair destroyed a fine US company (Anderson) and drove many IPOs overseas.
The ethanol debacle is still racking up victims (US taxpayers and/or motorists) with no end in sight.
The 1 series BMW diesel gets 60 mpg? I think Gagrice has detailed why we can't get more auto choices here.
I have a V6 4runner (I liked my old Explorer but it only got 15-18 mpg and was pushing 100k) and get 19-22 with conservative driving. Its my only vehicle and I need to carry tools and equip and and occasionally tow a small trailer. A small turbo diesel in this truck would be ideal and I would buy one. If Ford offered one or two diesel engines across its product line for example, people would line up behind the blue oval. Same goes for GM and Chrysler. The US has the talent and ability to take back the auto business if the US Government would get out of the way.
I'm going to go get a Corona an cool off.
DQ
They can do it now.
1989 Cadillac Brougham 15/22 mpg, weight 4190 lbs
2008 Lexus LS 460 16/24 mpg, weight 4245 lbs
2008 Lincoln Town car 15/23 mpg, weight 4345 lbs
2008 RX Hybrid 26/24 mpg, weight 4365 lbs
What did Lexus do that dropped the mileage from the previous models of the RX400h? They also put out more CO2 now than the older models.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
SUL 97 is 8RMB /L , which is USD4.38/Gal
Diesel is 6.13 RMB /L = USD3.35/Gal
Standard China prices are now 7 RMB/L = USD 3.83 /Gal for SUL 97
Diesel is 5.13 RMB /L = USD2.81/Gal
The increase is not so drastic as it just matches today's oil prices. Any further oil price increase will put the local petroleum companies back in the red.
Good news is that all the queues for Diesel fill up have cleared. I still believe the diesel prices are too low. Govt really kept the increase as low as possible, so it is likely queues will show up again in a few months.
Any less traffic or pattern change to adapt to more expensive oil ? No. Gas is still to cheap. last year, priuses were sold by the thousands in China. There are other priorities in motorists' minds here.
In France and many European countries, pizzas are only delivered by 50cc or at most 125cc scooters. In China, they often use Electric bikes for that. I can't justify the rationale of moving 3-4-5000 pounds for a few pounds of hot food.
I remember receiving 2 pizzas from Little Ceasar in L.A. in 96. They were delivered by some kind of big V8 powered van in which a whole furniture set for the family room would definitely fit. I am sure one gallon was burnt in the process...
Your post made me laugh. Pizza gets delivered in every kind of vehicle known to man. In 1996 gas was really cheap. My son was delivering pizza at night and flowers during the day in his 1994 Toyota PU truck I bought him. I used to tell him how it was costing him money to deliver anything. Of course it was dad that always picked up the tab for repairs on that POC Toyota. PU truck. He racked up 100k miles in 3 years doing delivery.
A nice position with a hedge fund ( who was short) for Sammy after the deluge? Oh btw, g, Sarah Palin would make a fine VP candidate
Shell and GM stated in the CNN report that hydrogen will be sold at their fueling stations at $2/gallon equivalent to gasoline using the Chevy Equinox hydrogen cell car that will be sold according to GM reps at $26K each base price. The max. range on the Equinox on one tank of hydrogen will be 160 miles for now. I do not doubt with technological improvements this distance will be increased over time. Chrysler claims they will build and manufacture the Ecovoyager hydrogen cell/electric car that has a max range of 250 miles on one charge with an extra 50 miles extension derived from the smaller hydrogen tank it has on board.
Where does the hydrogen come from
Shell is producing hydrogen from electrolysis cells in California using tap water as the reagent to produce the hydrogen. The electricity used to power these hydrogen producing plants are mainly coal fired electric plants. If it were my choice, we could power these hydrogen plants using nuclear CANDU reactors the safest nuclear reactors in the world, or by large solar panel/wind generation plants like that being built in Germany now. Any fossil fuel argument you have is futile because the world will run out of oil within the next 50-100 years, so we have to find another series of energy sources to solve our energy problems. The added benefit here is hopefully the production of hydrogen will eventually be cleaner by using solar/wind generation, nuclear at some point.
GM and Shell said they would be selling hydrogen cell cars and have fueling stations up and running by 2011, 3 years from now.
See www.hydrogenassociation.org website video posted
5/28/2008 CNN's Glenn Beck on Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
Source: CNN
and this statement below by GM exec
GM executive pushes for hydrogen infrastructure
David Booth, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
At the recent National Hydrogen Association Conference in Sacramento, California, the General Motors vice-president for Research and Development challenged government and the oil industry to build 40 hydrogen refuelling stations in southern California to promote the further development of the "hydrogen infrastructure of automobiles."
"While automakers continue to commit resources to the development of full-performance, affordable and durable fuel cell-electric vehicles, there appears to be comparatively little parallel investment and resource allocation for development and deployment of commercially ready retail hydrogen infrastructure," said Burns.
He noted there was only one public hydrogen refuelling station in California, "yet our Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles are already in the hands of customers who are looking for a retail-like refuelling experience."
While Burns calls this initial development a "tipping point" that could ultimately service as many as 10,000 hydrogen-fuelled fuel-cell powered vehicles, it is only the beginning of an America-wide infrastructure that will be required before the alternative fuel is widely adopted.
As daunting as that may seem, Burns remains convinced that a "hydrogen highway" is attainable within the near future.
According to Burns, "a network of just 12,000 hydrogen stations would put hydrogen within two miles (3.2 kilometres) of 70 per cent of the U.S. population," a far more attainable goal than replacing all of the estimated 170,000 gasoline stations currently operating in the United States.
Even "if these stations cost $2 million each," says Burns, "the total cost of $24 billion is not overwhelming," considering the cumulative profits of the oil industry were $123 billion U.S. in 2007 alone.
Burns also said the production of hydrogen should not be a problem for the future, since global production is slated to rise to 81 billion kilograms by 2011, half of which is used by oil refineries to remove sulphur from "dirty" crude.
Not without irony, Burns notes that the hydrogen being used to refine oil into gasoline would be enough to fuel 135 million fuel-cell powered vehicles, which would significantly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels.
Isn't it ironic that the hydrogen is produced and used in the refining process for oil refineries already? I think the fueling issue will not be a problem.
It will be the durability and robustness of the hydrogen stack and batteries going into these cars as the main obstacle, ie. expensive to maintain after 50,000 miles of use.
Regardless of the costs we will have to try to make the hydrogen highway work.
I will buy a hydrogen cell car once they become available. I am not waiting for the $7 to $10/gallon of gas crunch. I will invest into the new technology and take my chances.
" The excessive reaction and regulation after the Enron affair destroyed a fine US company (Anderson) and drove many IPOs overseas. "
Just a side note since I love the ironic. Many former Arthur Anderson employee's are now Sarbanes-Oxley consultants.
Comedy can't write stuff this good.
I agree wholeheartedly. One sharp lady she is. The governor of LA Jindal is also a good choice. Not sure who would give the most to the ticket.
Another anecdote that bothers me a lot. Two of the investors in the Q fund are GHW Bush and Howard Baker. There is a lot we do not get to see in this World.
In France and many European countries, pizzas are only delivered by 50cc or at most 125cc scooters. In China, they often use Electric bikes for that. I can't justify the rationale of moving 3-4-5000 pounds for a few pounds of hot food.
Well, when I delivered pizzas, I worked in the suburbs, and our delivery area was up to around 5 miles from the store. And that wasn't all residential streets either. Many of the roads I travelled had speed limits up to 55 mph, and occasionally I'd even hop on a limited access road with a 65 mph speed limit. A scooter would just be too dangerous. I'd also often walk out the door with 4-5 deliveries at a time. On a busy Friday or Saturday night, I could easily put 200 miles or more on a car.
Plus, on a scooter, you're probably going to have a higher complaint rate, because the pizzas are going to get sloshed around more inside the box.
If Obama doesn't pick a woman Palin would be the smart choice for McCain.
Ok enough off topic crap.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
The water is the source of the hydrogen and oxygen. A reagent is a chemical which causes a reaction to occur. Here the electrical energy is causing the reaction.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Are
No
KINGPINS
In
Your
Imaginary
"Oil Price Run-Up"
Gary
No
One
Can
Manipulate
The
Price
Of
Oil
Directly.
Signed, the "Anti-Conspiracist"
Pedal On Amigo !!!!!!!!!!
One
Can
Manipulate
The
Price
Of
Oil
Of course you can. Go to your commodity broker and tell them you want to buy a 50 million barrels of oil for August delivery. You will pay up to $145 per barrel. If you have the money that is how it is done. Very simple. You already forgot the trader that bought a 100 barrels for $100 to be the first over that price threshold. He then sold and lost money. Not everyone playing the game loses money.
You make a very valid point. If someone has a $50k car and likes to spend a few bucks on gas to go out for a nice high speed cruise, what is the harm, if he does not endanger others? How is that any more a waste of money, energy and resources than the guy that pays $250 for a round of golf at the Desert Inn or Pebble Beach?
So I should resent the folks who live in fire prone/flood prone/mudslide prone areas for what it does (in theory) to others' insurance rates? Or chubby people? Or older folk?
As to the second part, yes, I definitely agree that having someone tailgate you is unpleasant and dangerous - and should not be done, with or without "slower traffic keep right"
Only when hydrogen is created using electricity from hydro, wind, and solar will it be worthy. But then, there aren't enough of those types of electric generation to meet our current electric needs, so why divert it to hydrogen creation. And why create an entirely new distribution system for hydrogen when we already have on for electric?
Here is where I'm going. Electric transportation is what needs to be refined, improved, and implemented. The grid is in place. Most charging will occur at night, where demand is currently low so it will help equalize day and night time loads. We won't have to build an entirely new delivery infrastructure like with hydrogen. Electric can be generated directly from the solar, wind, and hydro (think tide turbines and not dammed rivers). You can even invest in these technologies and create your electricity onsite at your home. That requires less electric grid buildout. Imagine almost all homes having solar panels. Or community electricity, like some towns are doing, by having one 2.5megawatt wind mill generate the majority of the towns electricity. Better yet, new houses built, or old houses retrofitted, to conserve energy. Then one doesn't have to create the electricity in the first place.
Back to hydrogen. The main use for hydrogen that I see is not for cars. It's for the storage of energy when there are overages in electricity production from the above sources. One of the problems with wind power is it's not consistent and/or much of the electricity generation occurs at night when demand is low. That is one issue the wind farms have been dealing with. Many electric companies need more consistent energy production in order to patch in the wind farms to the grid. The latest ways to equalize are by creating hydrogen during the overages, storing it on site, and using it to in Fuel Cells, to create electricity during the low wind period. Another is using the overage to pressurize huge underground air cavities and using the pressure to create electricity during the lulls.
I think the Government push behind hydrogen is control of the resource. How do you tax an EV that is charged at home?
Not really because insurance is based on class of vehicle. They are paying WAY more insurance to drive that vehicle (or at least for vehicles that, statistically are in more accidents or cost more to fix) than if that same person drove an old pickup truck. In that sense, people are more or less paying their own way.
Besides, who says a they are wrecking? Isn't it unfair for the person paying a premium to drive that type of car and never drives aggressive or never wrecks when a part of their premium goes towards fixing the cadillac of a senior citizen that pays next to nothing for insurance but isn't a safe driver and either gets in accidents or causes them by their driving (and never even realizes it and drives off blissfully unaware of the accident they just caused).
So to make the point, simply because someones drives a sports car doesn't make your insurance go up. And even when they have an accident, it probably impacts you very little unless you drive the same type of car, are the same age, sex, marital status, credit rating, and all the other factors that statistically impact your specific insurance rate.
Yep, hence the big government push for fuels that you still need to buy per unit at a service station (biofuel, hydrogen, etc.) I guess there could be a different kilowatt price for electric used for electric cars, which would require a separate meter for your car, but that would be hard to inforce and track. I imagine it could also be done by a highway tax on license plate renewals, but then you are taxing those that drive 5,000 miles a year the same as those that drive 100,000 a year which isn't exactly even. Of course, with the current tax method (per gallon of gas), it isn't evenly spread, either, since those driving a 10mpg vehicle are paying 5 times more per mile driven than someone getting 50mpg.
There will likely always be gasoline vehicles since we are a very long ways away from electric vehicles that can tow a horse trailer, for example, but even with current technology, they would suffice for much of the population and as they become mass produced, price will come down and technology will continue to improve range. Then it may come to the point where folks are quite happy buzzing around in their electric, 300 miles at a time, and if they need to tow something heavy or drive a long distance on a trip, they can rent an appropriate vehicle. Or maybe just do so now and then just to relive the memories of "back in the day when the common vehicle was powered by an internal combustion engine". Ha.
You can afford a nice fast gas-guzzling car? Fine, pay your track fees and knock yourself out.
Meanwhile, 2.9 billion gallons of gas are wasted in the US every year thanks to traffic jams. Good place for that 300hp car eh? :P
No where did I say anything about speeding. We were discussing people paying insurance.
I know plenty of people that have "sports cars" that don't really speed or drive reckless. The nice thing about lots of the sports cars or luxury sports is the driving experience is so much nicer even in day to day driving. Contrast that with there being way more people speeding, driving reckless, etc. in non-sports cars and this whole thing becomes moot.
"Meanwhile, 2.9 billion gallons of gas are wasted in the US every year thanks to traffic jams. Good place for that 300hp car eh? "
Of course it doesn't matter if you are driving a 300hp car or a 120hp car, in stopped traffic, they both get 0mpg. A hybrid or electric is the only vehicle that does well in that environment. Also note, just because many sports cars are quick, doesn't mean they are gas guzzlers compared to the average family sedan. Heck, the 2008 6.2L V8 Corvette is even rated at 26mpg with 430hp.
Besides, many of the sports cars don't really have a lot of hp. They are built small and light giving them a good power to weight ratio. Lot's of them get better mileage than the average family car. In those situations, the sports car drivers are better for the environment than that sedan and minivan drivers. And especially better than the SUV and pickup drivers. Maybe the new campaign to the SUV drivers should be "Save the world. Trade-in for a sports car".
And if you're slumbering through one of those awful commutes, you don't need even need 120 hp.
Maybe if the powers that be would stop fighting wars for others and invest in infrastructure, those traffic jams could be alleviated.
More on topic, slowing down saves gas.
Yes, but this thread started with:
Some people have nice powerful cars 300HP+ and love to drive fast. Speed limits are way too low on most of highways. 55mph is a joke for something like Nissan GT-R or BMW 335i.
Shoot, even my POS Saturn wagon can go faster than 55. :P But you are correct, driving a sports car can be enjoyed without driving it fast. It can be a lot of fun to drive one fast though. Like steve said, pay the track fee and have at it.
We were discussing people paying insurance.
Yes, and last I checked, my insurance was likely to go up if I get convicted of speeding.
I admit to not knowing much about this claim. I just haven't looked into it a great deal. From what I have read and heard, it almost seems even more unclear/controversial than the safety benefit of lower speeds. What I see is that a common response is "Yes, but it just doesn't save that much." Always leaves me wondering "So, what is enough?"
Result: Substantial savings on a long trip
Cold Hard Facts: Up to 14 percent savings, average savings of 12 percent
Recommendation: Drive the speed limit.
What Really Saves Gas? And How Much?
lol
Let us know how well that argument goes over with the patrolman, the traffic court judge, your insurance agent, your neighbors, the DMV, and your legislators.
Ah, OK. I gotcha. It threw me when you replied to my email rather than the other person's one to which you were responding.
I agree on the rush hour commutes. When I lived in Chicago, I chose to live within walking distance of work. My coworkers that didn't took the subway if they were in the city or the train if they lived out of town. It still was an hour commute, but way cheaper and they could read, nap, eat, or work on the way in...not that some people don't try to do those things as they drive. :P
40 for the freeways! :P
Judges, revenue enforcers, DMV, legislators...hardly the most accountable segments of society.
It does seem intuitive that lower speed burns less fuel. You know folks don't warm up to percentages so readily. They like cold hard raw numbers, especially when talking money.
Since we're hovering around speed limits, it does seem to me that setting lower speed limits in the name of saving fuel will not go over very well. Actually reducing to the posted speed limit does make sense to me. Saving fuel is a bonus.
My truck's mileage sweet spot is 65mph or slower. I get 20mpg. At 70 - 75mph, it drops about 3 mpg which is a 15% drop. If I drive 80mph, which is still well within police tolerances on 75mph speed-limit roads in the middle of nowhere, my mpg drops to a miserable 15mpg or a 25% drop. Slowing down is, by far, the easiest way to improve your current vehicles gas mileage.
That being said, in a higher traffic area, driving slower than the other vehicles is actually more dangerous than exceeding the speed limit and flowing with traffic. It's the variation in traffic speeds that increases danger, not the overall traffic speed. Even the hwy patrol say this. My grandparents took a driving class many years ago, when the hwy speeds were raised again, and all the hwy patrol that were teaching the class taught the same thing. Flow with traffic if at all possible and within your comfort level, because its the variations in speed that raise the danger level.
There is a lot of rationale that goes into setting speed limits. We may not agree with the rationale or the outcome, but that is far from what I would consider idiotic.
Judges, revenue enforcers, DMV, legislators...hardly the most accountable segments of society.
That may be the case. I'm believe, however, that those are segments that should be held to the highest level of accountability.
Your turn.